Peterson Advances To Olympic Trials 800 Final
7/10/2004 12:00:00 AM | Track & Field
July 10, 2004
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Tiger post-collegian Derrick Peterson advanced Saturday to the finals of the men's 800-meter run at the 2004 USATF Olympic Trials. Christian Cantwell finished fourth in the men's shot put final, and Michelle Moran and Fiona Asigbee scored personal bests in the women's heptathlon to place seventh and tenth.
Peterson (Jonesboro, Ga.) placed second in his semifinal heat in a time of 1:47.87 to qualify for Monday's final in the event. Peterson came out to the lead in the first 300 meters, fell to fourth before the final 200, and surged his way to second beating out third place by one-hundredth of a second.
"The semifinal is probably the toughest race of all three," Peterson said. "Finishing in the top four is basically the prime order for the day. My goal was to do that today."
Christian Cantwell (Eldon, Mo.) took fourth in the finals of the men's shot put. His third throw of 67 feet, 5? inches (20.56m) was his only fair throw of the day; however, it gave him three more shots in the final.
"Yeah, today was a bad day," said Cantwell. "But, you know what; I'm still No. 1 in the World and will continue to be through to the end of this year and beyond. I plan on being in Monaco for the IAAF World Athletics Final in September and will continue to work and train hard. People don't have to worry; I'll still be back in 2008."
Cantwell will next go to Europe for some international competitions before the September final to wrap-up one of the best first years in the professional circuit in track and field history.
In the women's heptathlon, Michelle Moran (Wildwood, Mo.) finished in seventh place with a personal-best score of 5,842 points scoring personal bests in the javelin and in the 800. The score was a 110-point improvement from her previos personal best. The 800-meter run was ran by Moran in 2:13.05, a two-second best. In the sixth event, the javelin throw, Moran, through the first two throws seemed to have lost some strength, throwing for only 120 feet by her second throw. On her third and final throw, Moran uncorked the javelin, tossing it 141 feet, 2 inches (43.03m), a ten-foot personal-best. After six events, Moran stood in eighth place with 4,922 points, overall 100 better than where she was for her previous personal best at the Audrey Walton meet earlier this year.
"Up until the javelin, I was feeling not so good because I didn't feel like I've had a good event yet," Moran said. "Even though my score was better than it has been before; I never got that feeling like I was doing my best. The javelin was amazing to me. I didn't even know I had tossed it that far until it landed. Going into the 800, I felt like I had a second-wind that propelled me to go as fast as I could."
Moran finished in second in the 800 to complete her day. Moran was also chosen by USA Track & Field to be one of four to be on a national team that will travel to the Netherlands in August as part of an international competition. More details will be forthcoming in the weeks and months ahead.
Fiona Asigbee after coming off an amazing day one topped off her trials appearance with a new personal-best of 5,675 points to take 11th. Both of Asigbee's first events, the long jump and javelin, were average performances for the Walford, Iowa, native. The 800 was also pretty average and it spurred her on to her best finish ever.
Tomorrow is an off day for Missouri competitors, but things get started again on Monday with Derrick Peterson in the 800-meter final and Ray Hughes in the 3000-meter steeplechase semi.
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